Tomb Raider: The Prophecy
by Josh14Raider
Summary: The globetrotting explorer and adventurer Lara Croft while looking through her Library had made a new discovery. A medieval book, describing three special artefacts and an ancient prophecy had made Lara to once again go onto a new exciting adventure.
1. Introduction

**Tomb Raider: The Prophecy**

Adapted By Josh14Raider

Disclaimer: This is based on the storyline of the Game Boy Advance game with the same title. I do not own any of the characters, they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading.

**- Introduction (Lara's Home)**

A ray of sunshine glinted upon the silver tray, which was situated on top of a table set up nearby some well kept gardens. Explorer and adventurer Lara Croft and her faithful butler Winston, were enjoying each other's company just outside her mansion. It had been a beautiful day so far, as both admired the scenery and their cups of tea Winston had made earlier.

"So what do you plan on doing today Lara?" Winston asked her, his voice full of warmth and friendliness.

"Oh, I don't know, I'll have to think about it... I haven't got any planned adventures to prepare for yet, nor any schedules for a while." Lara replied, taking the final sip of her cup of sweet tea and placing it back onto the tray.

"Mmmm, thank you for the cup of tea Winston, it was lovely as usual." Lara praised her old companion.

"No problem Lara, I've known for a long time how you like your cups of tea being made. I'll just pop this tray back into the kitchen, while you think of what you might like to do today." Winston responded, and he picked up the tray, and then walked away towards the mansion.

It was during this moment, Lara had drawn up an imaginary check list in her mind, and for each entry she remembered that she had done recently, it got ticked off. Minutes passed and Winston came back, sitting beside Lara, ready for what she would do for the day.

"Have you decided what the plan is for today?" Winston wondered, looking at Lara's facial expression for the answer.

"Yes... but it might be a bit boring, the only thing I haven't done for a long time is sorted through some of my old books in the library. But you never know what we might find in there!" Lara told Winston, he nodded with agreement.

"Fair enough Lara, at least it's better than doing absolutely nothing. I will gladly help out if you want?" Winston offered along with a cheery smile.

"Of course you can Winston. It would be a delight having some assistance." They both left the table and entered the mansion, making their way to the top of the staircase. The mezzanine to the right side led them into the entertainment room, where Lara's valued musical instruments were placed. Inside was a grand piano and a harp, both of which Lara was very fond off. In her spare time she would compose pieces of music utilising both instruments, sometimes even Winston joins in! Furthermore a TV Home Cinema had also been set up here, along with a computer desktop plugged in, acting as a media centre hub. Through the entertainment room was a minuscule corridor with some stairs, leading up to Lara's library.

It had been a while since Lara did a full sort out of her collection of books and manuscripts. Lara and Winston decided to organise each section of her library from A-Z. They both worked on one section each, and created two piles for reorganisation. Where one pile is for keeping, whilst the other pile was for rechecking one final time, before recycling the items if they were not useful anymore.

Time moved on quickly, and jointly Lara and Winston had already covered almost half of the library's contents. But just before Lara was about to go ahead towards the next section of her shelves, she stumbled across a unique ancient book. Having been stopped in her tracks, Lara further examined her discovery. The book cover was made out of a brown coloured leather-like material, with an iron emblem in the middle carved in the letter 'E'. Also the iron metal parts covered the edges on the front and back of the book. Lara had never seen a book of this calibre before, not even in her own collection. She guessed that it was one of the books her father left behind, since she didn't even knew it had existed until that very day!

Opening up the thin pages of the book, Lara pondered on what the full name/title of the literature work. The answer popped right up on the second page. The title, once deciphered read: The Prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel.

"Winston! Have a look here, I've found something very interesting!' an excited Lara shouted to Winston.

Winston hurried along to Lara's side, and scanned the book she held in her hands. He tried to read the passage on the page, but struggled to read what the script had said. He knew by this time, Lara knew what the text had spoken off.

"What does it say Lara?" Winston asked her.

"It reads of a certain prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel, I've only been able to decipher this passage at the moment. Actually, I might hold off the library sort out, and decrypt this language to read further on, if that's okay with you Winston?"

"Yeah, sure Lara, there isn't much left to do now, so you go on ahead." reassured Winston, knowing it was one of Lara's favourite things to do. Finding out new discoveries, unravelling old mysteries and uncovering hidden secrets, this was what Lara had thrived for. She had a passion to research, and to be completely surprised by what she may have stumbled across. She took the newly discovered book to a nearby desk, and got herself a chair to sit upon. With a pen and a piece of paper, she began to decipher each line on the page. She also had begun to write out each passage that she had deciphered onto the blank piece of paper in English.

Hours must have passed like minutes for Lara. Once she had completed deciphering one section of the medieval book, the whole day had gone by promptly, and already it was starting to darken up outside. Lara looked over to the library bookshelves, expecting to see Winston finishing off, but he wasn't there. She walked over, examining the now uncluttered tidily stacked books. Winston had made an excellent job finishing off the reorganising. A note was left on top of a pile of books, written to inform Lara to check over them when she had the time. Lara assumed that Winston must have been preparing something for her, so she exited her library and headed downstairs.

A strong scent of sweet gingerly chilli, and nearly readily made basmati rice was coming from the kitchen.

"Ah there you are Lara, you ready for a bite to eat?" Winston said looking towards Lara's direction as she entered the kitchen.

"Starved Winston, what you cooking up?" wondered Lara.

"I'm doing one of my specialities, a spicy piping hot curry!"

"Cool, I'm looking forward to It." a keen Lara stated, she certainly was looking forward to the dish.

"Good to hear, it won't be long now." reassured Winston, preparing things for serving.

Both sat in the dining room and began tucking in the Jalfrezi curry. After finishing off the meal, Lara explained to Winston what she was able to decipher of the heavily encrypted Tome of Ezekiel. The new discovery intrigued Lara greatly, as she informed Winston on where her next adventure will take place.

"...Wolf's Fang Peak?"

"Yeah, this book dates back to the 13th century. This is what the scholar who wrote this called the area. I've done a bit of further research, and all the clues in the book have led me to believe that this is located high up in the Swedish mountains."

"What has made you want to take on this adventure Lara?" Winston asked her.

"The Tome of Ezekiel speaks of a mystical stone hidden somewhere in the icy heart of the mountain. This stone contains what the scholar wrote as 'Real Magic', and it is known as The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy. I've encountered as you know, some unnatural journeys involving magic, like a few years back with that cursed sword during my visit to Jane in New York." Lara answered.

"I remember you telling me, but why would you want to get involved in that sort of thing again?" a worried Winston questioned.

"Because it was that particular phrase that got me hooked up, 'Real Magic', besides I don't think there would be any other third party interested, as this must be the only source explaining the existence of this artefact. Also it has been long forgotten and from what I've deciphered of this script, this stone shouldn't have any sort of curse." Lara added, raring to get ready for another breathtaking adventure.

"Okay Lara, I will start preparing your weaponry and equipment, have you set your destination date yet?"


	2. Sweden - Tomb of Ezekiel

**- Sweden (Tomb of Ezekiel)**

The many howls of wolves echoed throughout the mountainside, as Lara waved to the helicopter that dropped her off. She was wrapped up warm for the freezing weather and harsh environment. First, Lara was wearing two layers on her body, one blue jumper and an orange snow jacket over it. For her legs and footing, Lara chose to wear a black and white camouflaged cotton trouser, alongside with black boots that had a specialized sole for excellent traction and grip on snow terrains. These clothes were the same as she had worn on one of her adventures in Antarctica. Before the helicopter journey, Lara had made sure that she and Winston had packed what she may have needed for the mountain climb. This included the following in her inventory:

- Grappling hook

- Rope

- A Harness

- Carabiner clips

- Belay

- 2 Medical-Kits

- The Tome Of Ezekiel Book

- Field Notebook

- A Mobile Device for distress signals etc

- Her signature 9mm Dual Pistols with her holsters and clips.

All ready, Lara booked a helicopter to take her to the destination up upon the mountain top side. There she would continue journeying alone to find out if the legends mentioned in the 13th century book were true. Just as she descended out of the cockpit of the helicopter, she spotted a trail leading upwards in the range. After she waved the helicopter off, Lara proceeded through this snowy trail, with her pistols fully loaded ready for anything blocking her path.

Snowflakes were falling from the sky like a blizzard, and the strong wind was gusting all around. This made it ever more difficult to travel through the terrain, searching for the entrance of a supposed tomb in the area. She battled through the rough environment, and unfortunately came to a dead-end. The only way forward was climbing up, so Lara prepared herself ready for the climb. To the side was a small shelter, away from the rapid falling snow. She organised her mountain climbing equipment with ease, thanks to the cover provided by the shelter. Within a few minutes, Lara had attached the rope to the grappling hook and threw it on top of the mountain edge. There she tugged on the rope to ensure that it wouldn't fall off or part of the mountain rock won't collapse. Happy with the results, Lara then proceeded to fasten the harness around her waist, and with the carabiner she tied herself to the rope. There, she began to climb on the jagged ridges of the mountain rock.

The continuing cold climate made it tough on Lara's climb, as the further she ascended up on the mountain the colder it got. It also became harder to breathe correctly, and her fingers were suffering greatly from the bitterness of the frost. But this didn't distract her, since what she wanted to find above was in the centre of her attention. Just thinking about it made Lara build up enough strength to finish off tackling the mountainous challenge. One more reach for the ledge and Lara hoisted herself up onto the white snowy mountaintop. There laid another singular trail leading to the right side around the folded mountain. Lara retrieved her climbing gear and packed it away in her backpack, looking down to see how far she had climbed. From there, it would have been a deadly drop. She dismissed the thought, and followed the trail round to the other side of the mountain.

Along the rocky path, Lara observed many stone carvings of past medieval figures, either on the square mantle rocks integrated into the ground, or partly on the mountain itself. This was a sign that she was getting closer to the entrance of the Tomb of Ezekiel. She carried on through. The wind was now starting to pick up some speed, while the falling snow began to hit Lara fiercely similar to the effect of ice stone hales. She pulled her hood up to protect herself and moved quickly to avoid the worse of what it can become.

The snow began to build up upon itself layer by layer on the mountain top, making it more strenuous to search and travel through. Without being able to see properly, Lara almost fell foot first from the cliff! Luckily, her body strength and positioning saved her from a momentous nasty drop. Having been taken off guard, Lara was confused of how she could have missed a cave opening of sorts. She backtracked through the trail, looking out for an opening into the mountain. It was within a few metres that Lara had spotted a glint of shining sliver on the mountainous terrain. There, the rich silver was covered by snow on the mountainside, so Lara wiped what she could reach and took a step back. The feeling of solving a puzzle or finding a new discovery once again filled Lara, as she had found what she had been vigorously searching for.

A vast bespoke entranceway was hidden away in the snow. Once uncovered by Lara, a plateau stood in front of her, built onto the mountain. The doors were tightly shut with no keyhole. But ensured that a trigger switch was nearby, Lara got out a transcript of the Tome of Ezekiel and examined it. Indeed, the script spoke of the plateau being as the doorway leading into the Tomb of Ezekiel. Reading along, it also said that it was sealed with a trigger switch platform nearby. This was the trick though, as the snow covered any sign or trace of the grey-black stony ground. 'I should have brought a shovel!' Lara joked to herself, and she began to walk around the plateau area, looking for where the snow was more raised compared to the rest. She knelled down, and gazed upon the snow layer, staring for any clue which could have led to the location of the mechanical tile.

Lara took a few steps to the west and suddenly her left foot sunk deeper into the ground. She swirled backwards to see what effect it had on the sealed doors. First nothing, then Lara heard, out of all the gusting winds above in the mountain, the sound of moving mechanical gears of the doorway slowly pulling the doors away from one another. Until, in a short matter of seconds the doors disappeared, a fully revealed dark interior was shown throughout the white snow environment.

Lara peered inside through the entrance, a stairway was beneath her and there was only a certain amount that she could foresee, until the darkness had concealed what was ahead. Cautious and wary, Lara held her pistols tightly in her holsters and stepped forward into the depths of the tomb.

A foul stench filled the corridor as Lara walked through it, observing and capturing every detail. The majority of the wide passage she took had poor brick work, some of it even had old decaying skulls incorporated at different parts. Amazingly green vegetation was growing out above and between the cracks of the bricks and ceiling. It was unbelievable considering the unsuitable growth setting of the place. Surprisingly even though it was quite dark to make out at first, as Lara travelled through the corridor it became brighter. Lara looked up and saw seeping light coming from the ceiling holes. Back then when the cave was built, it probably was easier to create leaking lighting from the outside, then having built in flame lamps. But as a consequence, pieces of snow can easily fall and build up in the tomb and as the night time comes, the cave would be extremely problematic to see in.

Carrying on along in the gloomy corridor, a suspecting thought had struck Lara. 'This would be a perfect setting for a trap' she thought to herself, and in response to this, she slowed down her pace to look out for any surprising sprung traps ready for intruders. Lara managed to reach the end of the corridor without encountering any traps whatsoever. 'How strange' Lara thought, as many experiences had proven to her that any long entrances to tombs, would inevitably lead to traps. It was at that moment, she was taken by shock as a burst of flames ignited from the floor. She immediately reacted by back-flipping just being able to dodge a fully fledged flame burning her alive!

Lara waited until the flame extinguished before moving passed it, she definitely needed to watch out for those. It wasn't the presence of them that astonished her, but how they were still operating and functioning after all these centuries since the tomb had been built. The end of the corridor was near, and it had led Lara to a large pit with two raised landing levels providing safe landing underneath.

"AAHHHWWOO!" The sound of a crying wolf bounced off each wall of the tomb, filling Lara's ears. She drew her pistols and moved ever warily, looking over to the direction of the loud howl. A nest of wolves had made part of the pit's shelter their home. She counted out 4 fully grown wolves, one awake while the remaining three were knelt down sleeping. That one wolf was prowling around the pit, knowing something had changed in the atmosphere of the tomb. It still hadn't seen Lara, but no doubt can smell her scent throughout the area. She didn't particularly want to engage the wolf into gun play, as that would cause waking up the other family of wolves making it outnumbered four to one. Additionally the wolves would have quicker reaction times and also be faster altogether in pace and agility. Lara scanned her surroundings, sourcing out a way to prevent confrontation with the wolves. To the right, Lara spotted a ledge that she could shimmy across the other side, avoiding having to delve into the pit. She jumped and grabbed on the ledge, holding onto it with both hands and her feet pressed firmly on the wall, Lara began to shimmy to the left.

"SNAP!" One side of the ledge was starting to crumble, not being able to support the newly added weight. Having seen this happening, Lara dashed as quickly as she could to the end of the ledge, but it was too late. The ledge had broken into two pieces, leaving Lara to fall straight into the wolf nesting pit. "ARGH!" she cursed, fortunately she landed on her feet, instantly reaching for her pistols for combat. The wolf directly saw Lara, and howled once again, in order to call upon the other three to help attack the trespasser that has come to their mist. The wolves raised themselves up and without hesitation they headed towards Lara direction, their razor sharp teeth clenched together, readying for a gnash of Lara's flesh.

Quick to react, Lara instantaneously pointed the barrel of her guns to the first wolf approaching her at a rate of speed. BANG! BANG! One bullet was fired straight into the leg of the wolf, right away stopping it in its tracks. The second bullet shot from her other pistol landed buried within the main body of the wolf, rendering it now motionless in death. By the time she had finished off the first wolf, the three wolves had already caught up with her. At once, Lara swiftly dodged the starving mouth of the closet wolf and rolled over to her right, only to comeback at the wolf pursuer with a shot in the belly.

The two last wolves split up into the complete opposite directions, becoming tactical, wanting to aggressively find a way to slaughter the enemy. Lara had seen what they were trying to do, and just when they were about to jump and chew off her head, Lara dived forward gracefully into a forward roll. She turned round, hoping that the effect of both wolves bumping into each other at such a force would knock them out cold. Silence was all she heard, as her wishes were answered. The final two wolves were lying beside each other, eyes closed and bodies' static frozen. Lara withdrew her pistols and walked away from the scene. She headed towards the end of the pit and vaulted herself upon the two ledges. Pass the large pit of the nested wolves was another corridor. Not as long though as the previous, this one had led her to a dead-end.

However she didn't stop there, since on the frontal wall were markings engraved. These markings to Lara's surprise were the skulls of animals' heads, which must have been used as a ladder to get to the upper level. She found it interesting that this kind of method was used in this tomb, instead of using a wooden type of ladder. Lara placed her hand on the first skeletal horn, since the first step was a bull skull. She managed to reach the top and a sealed door was a few meters away in the path. Lara moved up close to it and tried to push it.

It was immovable. 'Blast! There must be another way' Lara thought as she looked left to right. Unexpectedly she laughed to herself, as the answer laid just to her right, next to the sealed doorway. A push-button switch was installed, so Lara pushed the button, making it sink into the wall itself. As expected the switch was operational to removing the blockage out of the way to make a clear path. The doors moved slowly outwards, and Lara entered the previously sealed away room.

Lara had entered a gigantic room, one with three huge stone blocks at the end. Each one at different levels, the first being the smallest, while the third and final was the biggest. Another feature about this room was also the four statues, two at each side of the room. All were armed with either marble swords or shields. Lara walked up to one and examined the statue with admiration. The statues were modelled after medieval knights, in true detail and they had disgruntling facial features. Also the stone was sculptured of the armour they were wearing back then, including the capes or helmets. Lara moved on from the statues and went to the first block. She hoisted herself up and skipped over to the largest one, using her jumping techniques.

To the dismay of Lara, just as she got over to the third block, there was yet one more locked entry stopping her from proceeding onwards. Lara rescanned the room, just in case she had missed a switch or some sort in the area. Right at the corner, was a time worn lever switch, which could be associated with the door. She made her way back down to the lower floor and approached the switch. Pulling down on the dusty cob-webbed switch, Lara heard the door above slowly opened and began to casually make her way there.

Conversely though, the door started to close, and just before Lara was able to lunge in the small gap, it sealed shut. 'A timed door, what an inconvenience' she thought, having to return back to the switch. Only this time around, Lara knew that she had to rush to the door quickly to get through. She counted to herself, readying for a good sprint ...One...Two...Three! She pulled on the switch and dashed to the first block. Using all her energy, Lara did a quick combination of a run and jump over the three pillars. Alas afore the door was about to close tightly, Lara took her chance, by the second the door got any lower, she flexed her body into a dive manoeuvre. During which thereafter squeezing through the tight gap, she executed an elegant roll to ensure she would pass through fully intact.

Dusting herself off after her little effort, Lara carried on her venture in the tomb. A small hollow bat filled hallway led her to a new room, similar sized to the earlier one she was in with the three pillars. Likewise there too were warrior statues same as before, but these were placed at the end of the room. Each one built beside each other, six altogether, three at one side, while another three to the other. In between them was a gateway, but as Lara could see from the opposite end, it was sealed shut. 'Now, how am I supposed to open this one' she contemplated.

Lara inspected the room even further. It was there she saw a small alcove dug up in the right border. She glanced inside, more or less, it was an underground area, and Lara hadn't seen nor heard no immediate danger upon entering. The area was lit up by the flame traps that Lara had confronted before. The only difference being that instead of being traps, they had the purpose of being the sources of light against the dimness of the room.

Thanks to the brightness given off from the fire pedestals built underneath the ground, Lara made out a path which to follow. She didn't know what she may find or be faced with, but as she carried on through the long walkway her instinct began to warn her of hazard up ahead. Straight after her own warning, Lara felt the ground shake violently and she instantly reacted to sprinting her way backwards! Taking a quick turn of the head, Lara saw what had made the ground rumble so ferociously... a fast approaching speeding huge boulder! It had gained pace very quickly, almost taking Lara off guard of how fast it was going compared to her sprinting. She had no choice, other to dodge it when she got to the entrance alcove, but that was still quite too far away! In a matter of a few seconds, she was going to be squashed and flattened!

Using every ounce of enduring stamina, Lara reached her maximum peak of sprinting speed. Just when she thought the boulder was right behind her nearing to crushing every bone in her body, Lara leaped for the ledge, holding on for her life depended on it. The boulder had finished off its track of destruction, and the finale swan song from it was a huge crash against the wall, leaving the room to shake once again very brutally. After witnessing this event, Lara dropped from the ledge, and returned to the boulder path. Her senses still watchful of any nearby traps, this indeed excited her and as she strode though, an old saying was stuck in her mind, "Snooze, you lose!"

A rectangular room was at the end of the boulder pathway. There was nothing really special about this room. Nonetheless it did held an important artefact that had clarity. This item was placed on a pedestal stand with a ray of light shining upon it. Flurry snow covered the perimeter and radius of the room, and even the artefact in question was too enclosed. The twinkle of decorative gold from the artefact had drawn Lara to make her ascension towards it. She removed the traces of snowy slush wrapped over it, and took held of the artefact. What Lara had held in the palm of her hands was an axe. However it was no ordinary battle axe, it was plated with a high caret of gold. Undeniably it was a thing of beauty to admire, but Lara didn't have room in her backpack for it unfortunately. She decided to carry it back with her, 'maybe I would find some use for it with that locked gate' Lara thought, and she started her way back to the alcove.

Lara stood in front a guardian statue, which was unarmed. The other statues had been armed with swords, arrows or axes. "Beowulf, guard of the king" Lara read out an inscription written underneath the standing giant statue. "But this guard doesn't have a weapon...No guard shall be unarmed", Lara then took the battle axe from her grip and placed it where a weapon was missing from the statue.

As soon as Lara inserted the gold plated axe into the grasp of statues holding hands, it triggered an event. The mechanics behind the operation of the gate began to lift up the wooden connected meshed bars, and moments later a new path opened up for Lara to take to continue her journey.

For a second time, Lara was outside again. Feeling the unpleasantness of the bitter cold, she battled through the snow storm of the mountain region and each step she took, it became even tougher. Another grey haired wolf was waiting for her presence, amongst the mist, ready to strike at the stranger. In an unexpected turn of events for the canine, it was actually Lara who got the upper edge on the wolf. Without delay, just as the wolf was about to pounce up onto her body, a bullet became lodged into its leg. Its sulphur yellow eyes conscientiously staring at the attacker. Knowing that the enemy has got a better chance, the wolf abandoned its pursuit and ran off into the distance for its own survival, never to be seen again.

Boldly going through the blizzard, Lara recalled a noteworthy line she had already decoded from the Tome of Ezekiel. She looked up and saw a man-made route that led to travelling upwards near to the mountain peak. 'Vargstigen...the path of wolf' she had remembered, this was the exact passage that she was taking. This acknowledgement fuelled Lara. She was unquestionably on the right course. With this new form of energy, Lara resumed her fight, pushing onwards against the terrible climate.

The book noted famous pathway had taken Lara to a cave-like arched entranceway, where yet again there were some mucky stairs, leading deep into the core of the mountain. Lara wasted no time entering this section of the tomb, and was prepared for anything that step into her direction.

Minding each of her step down the stairway, once Lara reached the end, she spotted an engraved inscription written on a framed fixed onto the wall. With the help of the Tome of Ezekiel, Lara read and translated out the script, 'King Heort lies here. His legend will be immortal, for death shall respect his sons'. After reading that line, Lara had became full of joy! 'This is exactly what I'm looking for! Hopefully The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy that I seek would be here too!' she wished, taking a look at what was further ahead. The passage split up into two directions, one left, while the other was to the right. Lara decided to check out the right passageway, as it smelt a lot cleaner compared to the left. In spite of this though, it soon came to a dead-end with it being yet another barricaded locked door. Lara shrugged it off, since she knew somewhere within the left side of the tomb, there will be a switch to unlock this barred way.

Jogging through the left pathway, in the manner of a few meters, it turned sharply to the left again. Some bones were scattered all around on the stone floor, and Lara quickly examined them. These skeleton remains must have been here for centuries, not recent, as the bones are very timely worn out. Giving no more thought and moving on, Lara reached the end of the path line and an animal skull based ladder was united with the rock wall. Lara climbed this unfavourable contraption and was able to reach the top. There she saw a huge deep dark chasm nearby, and in between were two pillars that she can hop onto to get to the other side. Over to the right, Lara had a rare spot. 'A SWORD' she hurried to the pillars and hopped upon each one, getting to the small island.

The dumped silver sword was situated beneath a mix of marble/bronze almighty of a statue. Because of this statue being significantly different to the others, Lara reckoned that it must have been designed after the king himself. Though he was a mighty leader, she hadn't come across any articles based on him or if she had, those would have been very sketchy about his history. Lara picked up the sword, assuming that there may be some use for the relic later on. She attached it to her back using some spare straps from her backpack.

Going back to the top of the ladder, something unrealistic appeared in front of Lara's eye vision. Whilst she was staring down, the scattered collection of bones instantly joined together, forming the basis of a skeleton warrior! Such a vile creature, now armed with a wooden shield and a rusty sword, was looking around, sensing an intruder close by. Lara had already encountered such monstrosity in many of her adventures, so this was one more surreal being heading back to where it came from. She drew her dual wielding pistols, and to the skeleton warrior's surprise, it was knocked back by a strong kick straight in the exposed ribcage. Immediately Lara began to fire bullets into its torso. But it didn't stop it for too long. In a desperate attempt, wanting to take a hit at Lara, the skeleton warrior took a huge sweep with the sword, covering a good circular distance. Lara managed to dodge most of the vicious swing, but since it was too fast for her reactions, she had received a quite deep blade cut on her left upper arm.

The sudden shock of having pain shoot up from anywhere on your body can be much unanticipated, yet even some smallest harm can cause big damage later on. Lara defeated the skeleton warrior, with the last bullet severing to be the one to rip apart the bone remains of the warrior. Lara then tended to her wound she had sustained from the battle. It wasn't so severe, but it was bleeding quite badly. She took out a medical kit from her backpack, and began to rummage through, looking for an antiseptic wipe, disinfectant cream and a bandage to treat with. When she got these items out, Lara started wiping her blooded arm using the antiseptic tissue. It slightly stung, but she swiftly moved onto rubbing the disinfectant cream on the open wound. Finally Lara taped the bandage around her arm, to prevent it bleeding again or becoming infected.

Once the combatant had fallen, Lara studied the origins of where her pursuer had come from and what was that skeleton warrior was. The answer to the mystery came to Lara in a short supply of minutes. 'Of course, this skeleton warrior must have been a soldier of King Heort. He must have used the power of The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy, magic that can raise the dead. This might explain why only the Tome of Ezekiel and in some grim legends remember and refer to his tale. There must be more like this warrior around this tomb' Lara thought. She reloaded more ammo into her pistols, and then continued to explore the side of the tomb that she was on even further.

A disproportion loose brick had concealed a hidden switch within the deepness of the wall. Lara pulled out the piece and pushed the buried switch. She heard the sound of an opening door, pulled up from the cogs and gears built inside the walls of the tomb around her. Lara knew that meant this switch had unlocked the previously blocked right passageway. Eager to find out the whereabouts of King Heort's resting room in this tomb, Lara hurried along.

'Whoa! That was close!' Lara exclaimed, just as she was about to rush through an innocent looking corridor, fire ignited darts started shooting out from the walls! There were three of them to the left side, a few inches apart from each other. But this particular trap had a huge flaw though. The dart shooters were only an average chest height, therefore all Lara had to do was duck her way past through. Except, just before Lara was about to enter her crawl stance, the dart shooters began to move up and down. This caused her to change tactic, now that these shooters were moving at a continuous medium pace, she had to apply a new method of avoiding getting a deadly shot at her body.

As the first dart shooter was ascending upwards, Lara made her move. She ducked into a crawl stance, and dashed as quickly as she could pass the first obstacle. Lara then waited for the second ancient dart shooter to rise up above her, so yet again she would be able to dodge the malicious corroded sharp point of the dart. To such an extent, not only did Lara achieve getting pass the second shooter, but also with a little bit more momentum, she accomplished leaping over the third dart shooter while it was lowered too.

After bypassing through the olden trap, Lara found herself staring at a hung up iron shield placed on the wall of the tunnel. Instinctively she knew this shield might hold some important significance for later on. She guessed that it must be linked in some way to the sword she had collected earlier. It's not as if you'd come by a sword or a shield, just left by on landing or hung up randomly. Lara tied up the shield next to the sword on her back, though this would leave her at a disadvantage. Since this would greatly affect her manoeuvrability around the tomb complex, as what could be an easy way of evading a trap, will now become difficult with the amount of luggage she was carrying.

Though she dismissed this trail of thought, and carried on searching through the tomb, wanting to search desperately for The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy. The passage she took once again had split up into two parts, one leading to the left, which seemed to be a trap-free corridor, while the right consisted of a spike pit right in the middle. Lara was unable to walk pass these spikes, as they were tightly close together, not allowing anything to get around their counterparts. The left passage was the most viable option for getting somewhere in this tomb, so Lara began to walk along the set-out pathway. Just like any corridor that she had already passed through, this particular one seemed to be the same. However it wasn't to Lara's surprise. This corridor had a twist, and just as Lara was travelling through it, she felt the floor starting to shake. Without any thought, Lara quickly ran as fast as she could, trying to get to the other side. She looked back behind her, and saw the ground crumbling and collapsing apart altogether, revealing another trap within its wake.

A reservoir of burning oil had been running underground, ready to consume anyone who'd failed foreseeing the sneaky trap into a fiery end to their life. Lara had the experience and luck on her side, so she was able to reach to safety, and very soon after the last collapsing floor had given away from her weight. Up ahead, a standing block pyramid-type structure was built from the up, reaching near the ceiling of the room. Since this was the only entity in the room, Lara had speculated that another object of importance may be on top of this impressive architecture. She began to climb on each of the stone opening of this hierarchy construction.

Once Lara had reached to the apex of the stone pyramid-like internal building, there was indeed as she suspected an item of some value placed above. A two piece set of Libra scales, of golden high quality. Immersed by the excellent craftsmanship of the item, she carefully picked it up, observing all around her that she hadn't set off any traps, and placed it in her backpack. Lara took another look round, to the left side, there was a switch. Cautiously taking a chance, hoping it wasn't a trick to set a hidden booby trap, Lara pressed the switch. She heard the sound of reconciling gears retracting the spikes crossways of where she was. Glad that now a new passageway had been revealed to her, Lara was now standing before the trapped corridor she had already passed. Only this time, there was no floor she could walk upon. Lara thought for a moment, she only had one shot, and if she botched it up, she would end up plunged into the burning oil to her death.

The only answer was to sprint and jump to get over to the side. Hopefully she would have enough thrust to carry her over. She prepared herself for the jump, by backing off from the ledge. Taking one deep breath, Lara stared at the medium sized corridor, and started to run straight, as quick as her legs will take her. Precisely when Lara got to the edge of the path, she used all the strength in her leg muscles, and leaped into the air. She dared not to look down, and while she was in mid-air, she reached out, hoping to grab onto the ledge...

"HOOF" Lara exhaled, as she managed to successfully not only a remarkable run and jump over a quite a large distance, but also to grab the ledge, almost slipping off, after such a jump was a good feat. Lara pulled herself up onto the landing, and now that the spikes had retracted into an underground position, she was able to pass through without any danger. The hallway had taken Lara to a large room filled with two enormous statues, and a sizeable decorated door in the centre of both statues. These statues were of mythical winged horses, sculptured and the image closely resembled after Pegasus in Greek mythology.

'Finally, this should be the King's Tomb. The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy should be inside.' Lara thought. But as she was about to step any closer to the door, the bones which she missed in front of her were starting to bond together. Another skeleton guardian was blocking entrance to the resting place of the king. The surreal creature saw Lara instantly, and now armed with a sword and wooden shield like the previous one, it began to run at her direction, the sword blade pointed at her body.

The moment Lara saw this attempted assault upon her, she immediately side-jumped to the right, along with drawing her pistols. BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! The bullets from each pistol subsided into the skeleton bone, and when it was hit each time, the indescribable monster-warrior was taken aback. Lara got closer, since her bullets would have more of an impact upon close range. The skeleton then swung its sword, aiming for half of her neck. Instantaneously Lara ducked, avoiding the chop and the skeleton warrior tried again, only this time, it went for her legs. Lara hopped over the blade, and with one final blow to the skeleton, she booted it backwards and using the remaining bullets in her pistol clips, finished it off.

Lara withdrew her pistols as the remainder of the skeleton bones was strewn all over the floor. She proceeded onwards to the vast double door, unlocking the slide lock and opening the left side. It gave out a huge creaking sound echoing within the room, and Lara stepped inside.

The room was bright enough to see in, thanks to the shining light from the exterior raying inside up ahead. As Lara guessed earlier, the centre of the room had the main shrine coffin for King Heort. A huge slab of stone with a carving of a person holding a massive sword had made up the coffin. Lara got closer to the coffin itself. All over this bespoke resting place, were symbols etched around the monument. But before Lara further examined these symbols, she spotted a scroll parchment, well past its prime time, hung up on the wall to the left. She loomed over to read what was written. 'A good king is a fair judge who punishes the guilty and protects the innocent. Place the items of offering on the table at the end' Lara read out from the old script. Following thereafter, Lara looked over to the front of the room, a few meters ahead from the coffin. Truly as the script had told, there was a marble based table, and Lara knew that the items that needed to be placed on there were the one's she had already collected. Next to the table was a switch, no doubt which would trigger a check and confirm that the corresponding items were correctly placed in the right order.

Lara ran though what the script had said, and picked out the important words, which she could relate to the items she had got. The three main words from the script, she had linked to the pieces she had were the following:

Fairness = Gold Libra Scales

Punishment = Silver Sword

Protection = Iron Shield

If she put these items in that order, from left to right, Lara assumed that this would show the location of The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy in the tomb. Lara placed the Libra Scales to the left side of the table. Then the Silver Sword on the middle of the table, and finally the shield to the right side. She moved onto pressing the inactivated switch and stepped back to watch on the series of events that unfolded.

Surrounding flames ignited in front of the table, and a trapdoor over to the right side of the room activated, revealing a way to exit. But Lara's attention was drawn to something else that had mysteriously awoken from its slumber. A hooded robed apparition was summoned, and confronted Lara. It was a strange encounter, as the figure wore a black and purple robe, and this had concealed its face. The only distinguishing detail that Lara could see was its bright glowing red eyes, gazing straight at her direction. It had stayed in utter silence, not saying one word at all.

"Well, I guess I disturbed your sleep" Lara remarked, ready to draw her pistols immediately, should the hooded figure attack. Instead, still not whispering a word, the enigmatic character then raised the bones of two nearby skeletons, arming one with a sword and the other with a bunch of axes to throw at Lara. The figure then disappeared into thin air, it had left the two skeleton guardians' one mission, to kill and dispose of the intruder!

The minute as the skeleton solider that was armed with the sword came towards Lara's person, she was ready to make her move. Dodging a blade lunge from the skeleton swordsman, Lara ducked and performed a roundhouse kick on the exposed fibula and tibia. The foe instantly fell onto the floor from the impact. Meanwhile the skeleton axe man took aim at Lara with one of his axes in his hand. Lara caught a glimpse of this attempted aim from the corner of her eye, and with one foot pressed against the head of the skeleton swordsman, she drew her pistols. BANG! BANG! Two shots were all it took, into the skull head, the first bullet to crack it open and the second was the final blow. The axe man was broken apart. It didn't have the chance to attack Lara, due to its slowness.

Lara then dealt with the last skeleton warrior, with a bullet to the left temple and crushed the skull by stamping on it with her boot. The assailants were no more. Promptly the hooded figure reappeared, it's ruby coloured red eyes staring at Lara, giving no indication on what it was thinking, or what it was about to do. A dark hoarse voice then spoke out from the robed dressed character.

"You shall not interfere with the ways of magic, pitiful mortal." It claimed gloomily.

"Let's see if I'm the only mortal around here then!" Lara replied back, inputting new clips into her pistols.

The hooded figure began to conjure up some kind of spell. It prepared it within the palm of what seemed to be its body, and shot an energy bolt right into Lara's direction. Without delay, she rolled over to the right side, missing the venomous magical bolt by a mere few inches. She responded by giving this nightmare of a creature, a few bullets right into its body. Holes appeared on the pursuer's robes, and it began to whale in pain, every time Lara had a successful shot.

In its next line of attacks, the concealed figure created razor-sharp boomerangs. Each one had magical properties and was flying all around Lara. She tried to dodge each one, but they were nearly accurate at cutting her up. Running away from them didn't help either, so Lara had to think of something quick, before she would become all sliced up!

On the spur of the moment, an idea came to her. Lara altered her direction, and sprinted straight at the robed figure. Taken aback, the figure was completely surprised by Lara, and just before he could react, Lara slid underneath his levitating body. Whilst looking down, wondering where she was, it forgot that those violent boomerangs were coming back into its course. The hooded figure then tried to make these boomerangs disappear, so it wouldn't receive any more damage, but it was too late for the dark character.

Behind its back, Lara wasted no time in continuously shooting the backside of the creature. Suddenly the monster began to shake quite pugnaciously, until it couldn't take anymore from her firing pistols. As a last resort, it gave a howl loud scream of a cry, which ricocheted throughout the room.

"AAAAHHHHH! THE TEG-DU-BHOREZ WILL AVENGE ME!" Its last cry gave out.

Lara withdrew her pistols, and examined around the tomb. 'What's the Teg-Du-Bhorez?' She rhetorically asked herself. Lara had never come across that name before, so she moved onto the grave of King Heort, hoping that it has revealed some answers.

'What? There's nothing here, except for these symbols here.' Lara retorted. She read some of these symbols, and after reading for a few seconds, she recognised them. 'Hang on. I've seen these before...In the Tome of Ezekiel. I must head back home, and study this more.' She understood, and took note of all the symbols in her field notebook. Saddened that she came all this way for no prize or artefact at all, Lara sent her pilot a message, telling him she was ready to be extracted from the site. The pilot replied that there already was a vehicle ready to take her back to the village from the Swedish mountain.

Having seen the trapdoor on the other side already opened, Lara assumed that it will lead her to the way out. She dropped in, and was taken by surprise that she was sliding down a slippery slope. This had been a long slope, and Lara was glad that it took her near the end of the mountain range. At last, she was outside again. Fresh air filled her lungs, and she began her trail through the collected snow. Not too far away, Lara saw what the vehicle in question was, as a smile crossed her face.

A snowmobile had been parked on the snowy hillside. It was a striking red metallic colour. Lara got onto it and started the 800cc engine with the keys left in. She revved the engine, to try it out, impressively it purred as Lara lowered her foot on the accelerator. Since it had automatic transmission, Lara had no problems making her way down from the mountain. Of course, she couldn't help herself in doing some long range jumping over some ramps and ledges. Once she got back to a local village, Lara thanked the garage and the local pilot for providing their services to her during the trip, and paid them generously. Next she contemplated on getting back home, to carry on her research on the Tome of Ezekiel.


	3. Cambodia - Angkor Wat

**- Cambodia (Angkor Wat)**

"Welcome back home Lara" Winston happily announced, as he opened the door for Lara.

"Thank you Winston, I'm glad to see you too, have you been okay?"Lara replied.

Soon after the welcoming back, Lara headed straight to her library to further investigate the Tome Of Ezekiel with the symbols she'd found in King Heort's Tomb. This research had been carried out by Lara for a full hour. She discovered that the Viking king had utilised the power of the stones to rule his kingdom. The translation of the symbols did prove to be a difficult task, but positively Lara managed to find out what her new objective was. According to the newly deciphered chapter of the Tome of Ezekiel, along with the symbols recovered, there are two more other stones. One, named The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame was hidden underneath the temple region of Angkor Wat in Cambodia (South East Asia).

Winston came up to the library, to deliver her a nice cup of tea. He got a chair and sat opposite her.

"Do you know where you're headed next Lara?" Winston asked, knowing that Lara had already had an answer prepared.

"I certainly do Winston. My next destination is Cambodia, where I may need to travel underwater to get to my objective." Lara answered.

"Okay Lara, I'll get ready your gear." the faithful butler said.

"I'll prepare and pack my weaponry Winston, turns out I may need more fire-power than I thought" Lara admitted, and they both got to work, organising her equipment ready for her next journey to Angkor Wat.

The dry season time was well already under way for Cambodia. The burning sun was already scorching upon the land, making the area quite dusty and hot. Suitable for the heated conditions, Lara wore her sleeveless light blue cropped top, along with her green coloured khaki shorts and holster belt. Furthermore she along with Winston had updated her inventory, which now included the following for her adventure:

- A Waterproof backpack

- 2 Medical-Kits

- The Tome Of Ezekiel Book

- Field Notebook

- A Mobile Device for distress signals etc

- Dual Uzi sub machine guns and a HK MP5

- Dynamite explosive (Suitable for blasting through underwater blocked passageways)

Lara had already visited Cambodia about several times in some of her past adventures, so she knew the country and area very well. When she arrived in the northern part, where the wonderful temple site of Angkor Wat is situated, Lara got her plan into action. She would first stop by a town centre near the archaeological park, to retrieve the rest of her equipment. This was the neoprene wetsuit fitted with a torch light, as well as an oxygen air canister and a spare mechanical aqua-lung, in case she required it. Amongst this swim gear, Lara will also carry a specialised weapon for avoid getting into contact with any dangerous wildlife underwater. This weapon was a prototype tranquilliser harpoon gun, where not only it will work outside, but also in the water too. The ammo it used was a dart-like harpoon, and its purpose was to render any enemy instantly unconscious. More over it was fitted with a suppressor and a laser sight scope, so it was brilliantly useful for stealth conditions.

Lara waited until nightfall had fallen and the stars shining up above in the sky. This was so that it would be easier to sneak into the temple, and there would hardly be any tourists or many guards spotting her. Having cross checked everything to make sure she got what she needed, Lara then made her way to the symbolic temple.

The darkness had given Lara a great advantage, and because of it, she was able to accomplish getting into the site without being spotted. Lara reached the pool where the apparent underwater complex was, as pointed out by the Tome of Ezekiel. She stashed herself hidden away, and begun putting the swim suit on top of the clothes she was wearing. Holding onto the harpoon gun, Lara peeked at the poolside, making sure that no guards had come wandering in. Glad that she did the check first, Lara took aim at the guard's neck, using the scope to improve her accuracy.

The weapon description did turn out to be true, the prototype was working as intended, and as Lara pulled the trigger, the guard looking around had fallen flat on the ground. She approached the guard, not wanting to leave any trace of her presence, and moved him behind a pillar. Should any other guard come by, they would think that their fellow employee was taking a nap. Lara moved onto the pool, now she was all ready for some underwater exploration. Dipping her feet into the small lake, it was steady and cool, so Lara took the plunge in.

In one hand, Lara held the harpoon gun, while in the other she held her special dynamite. This particular dynamite was underwater compatible, and the blast would only create a small impact, certainly not enough to cause any structural damage. Lara dove lower. She had already equipped the oxygen canister and tied it to her back, alongside with her backpack. She was taking some short breaths, whilst diving further deeper into the lake. A couple of minutes in, and when she reached the pool floor, Lara proceeded scanning her aqua environment, looking for any sign or clue of the pathway she would need to take.

It was at the corner of Lara's eye, she saw to the east underwater, some rubble and stones, skipping down to the floor. She swam towards this finding, and felt the wall. Giving it a good knock, she instinctively knew that she was on the right track. This was the secret passageway leading to the complex underground. She got her dynamite, to set it off, all you had to do was twist the round and in three seconds, it would make a small explosion. Indeed, Lara followed this method and set the dynamite nearby the weak underwater wall. Once activated, she moved very speedily away from the soon to be explosion.

BBBBOOOOMMM! The blast from the dynamite had blown out the wall, revealing a new tunnel to swim through. Using breaststroke, Lara travelled through a mixture of murky and dusty water, trying her best to see though. She turned on the torch attached to her swim suit, and kept on taking small intakes of air from her canister, so it doesn't run out of oxygen too soon.

The bright light shone the way for Lara, and enthusiasm filled her body. She was thrilled! Wanting to see what mysteries had been hidden away for many years. The underwater tunnel led further downwards, and then took a sharp right turn, coming to a dead-end. Lara looked up, seeing if there was a surface to get up upon. However unexpectedly she felt something had changed in the water stream. A bulky saltwater crocodile had followed Lara though the tunnel, and when she had stopped, it watched her and made its move. Like a predator trying to catch its prey, the crocodile opened its wide jaw, showing off the mouldering teeth, wanting a taste of Lara!

SNAP! SNAP! The crocodile began to test Lara, by continuously snapping its mouth very close to her person. In reaction to this strike, Lara dove deeper until she was right below the crocodile. She swiftly brought up the harpoon, holding onto it very tight and targeted for the belly of the reptile. SSSWWWIIISSSHHH! A harpoon dart shot passed at such a speed in the water, and hit directly into the beast. Nevertheless, it was still well active, and it too dived. Now was reaching towards Lara's level.

'It will take a few more darts until this mammoth is brought down' Lara thought, as she saw the crocodile coming straight in her direction. She responded by swimming back up, and taking aim once again, this time her target was the head. Lara angled the harpoon shooter right on course, and pulled the trigger. The crocodile gave a big yawn, and just before Lara was about to ease off the pursuit, it almost tricked her and quickly swam underneath her. Looking straight up at the victim, and focusing all of its remaining energy on her, the crocodile opened its revolting mouth one more time. With it staying open, the saltwater crocodile shot itself up like a loose cannon.

Missing the jaws of the reptile by a tiny amount of percentage, Lara tumbled turned backwards within the depths of the water. Whilst the crocodile was finishing off the attack, thinking it had caught the bait by the snapping of the jaw, Lara repeatedly shot the crocodile with three darts, not hesitating one bit with the trigger. The crocodile gave one last yawn, and begun to fall to the flooded tunnel floor, now unconscious. Lara carried onwards, having caught the slight of another out of place rubble of collected rocks on the floor. Accidentally she had dropped the second stick of dynamite while battling the crocodile, but luckily it didn't activate and set off. Lara picked it up from the cloudy mud particle floor, and set the timer ready to explode in, 3...2...1...BLAST!

Yet another new tunnel leading even further down into the depths of the underground had been revealed. 'Gosh! How much further is this underground temple?' Lara questioned to herself, as she followed the new trail going downwards. This time around it was simpler, as this was the last underwater tunnel she would need to take. As Lara got to the dead-end of the tunnel, she rose upwards to the surface. There, a landing was available which led into a narrow corridor. Lara hoisted herself up onto the ledge. Now that the rest of the way should be in dry air, Lara decided there'd be no more need off the wetsuit, and began to take it off in addition to the oxygen canister. She rung out the wetsuit dry and packed it away into her backpack. Plus she tied the tranquilliser harpoon gun to her back, along with her HK MP5.

Lara had already studied this undiscovered underground temple, thanks to the translation she made in one of the chapters in the Tome of Ezekiel. Apparently the book described The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame sanctuary location is further up north in the temple. It also mentioned that the resting place of the legendary King Surya Varman II was also supposed to be there too. Further information from the Tome of Ezekiel also claimed that the king had used The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame to gain tremendous advantages in wars during his reign. That same stone should properly be at his resting place along with all of his treasure.

Lara began walking up into the hallway. She took a moment to observe her new surroundings. The walls were made up of a sandy yellowy creamy coloured, but most did not join together properly. Green mossy vegetation was growing out from the floor, and from the ceiling also. But as Lara continued travelling through the winding hallway, some beautiful porcelain carvings had come up. These were made in the image of important religious figures, and Lara greatly admired the attention to detail in most of them. The floor she was walking upon was a grey tiled like flooring, which was in desperate need of a good polish.

….'What was that, I heard something!' a worried Lara paused for a second. She had nearly reached the end of the hallway, as it was about to make a right turn, until she had heard a voice coming from that corner. She drew her Uzi sub machine guns and peeked from the corner of the wall. Her ears listening in on the voices from around the corner, a deep dark and croaky voice filled the silence.

"She knows about The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy, it's just a matter of time before she finds out about the red one too. She defeated the brother guarding Wolf's Fang Peak!" The first voice explained.

The next voice Lara heard had a similar vocal approach. "We must hurry and find it. We need all the magic stones for the final ritual. The Teg-Du-Bhorez brotherhood will finally accomplish its duty!" The figure had acknowledged. Lara got a quick glance at the duo before they evaporated into thin air. 'So there are more of them, forming a good old secret society' Lara thought on with this new piece of knowledge. 'They are one step ahead of me, also looking for The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame...talk about punctuality!' she jested. Lara took another glance at the main hall, where the two brotherhood members had just had their talk. They had left and raised two more skeleton swordsmen, who were patrolling the area.

Thanks to the luxury of bringing more powerful weaponry, Lara grabbed out her fine tuned HK MP5 and without delay made short work of them. Both historical warriors didn't know what had hit them and after two shots each from the HK MP5 right in their skull heads, they were running around aimlessly without their heads screwed on!

Checking all around to see if the coast was clear, Lara then entered the main hall. It had been held upright by a series of pillars built surrounding the area. As expected some degradation has happened here too, as a variety of different pieces from the ceiling or ornaments have come off during time. The environment, colouring and structure had stayed the same as before, much like the corridor Lara had taken earlier when she first step foot in the underground temple.

However something didn't feel right when she had arrived in the main hall. Apart from the skeleton warriors who were no more of a threat anymore, Lara instinct felt another presence in the area. Then it happened! 'An Ambush' Two purple/black robed figures out of the blue appeared, and both instantaneously begun to build up their magic, ready to cast their unnatural spells on Lara!

Certainly not wanting to have a taste of these conjured up spells, Lara reacted fast, she chose to this time to use her dual Uzi sub machine guns to fight them off. The duo Uzi sub machine guns would give Lara the advantage of having rapid fire-power, so it should be easy to engage and defeat the pair of hooded figures. Lara drew these sub machine guns from her holsters, with one set locked onto each dark target and at the pull of the triggers, bullets started to spray out at a high-speed.

The sudden howling cries from the figures filled up the whole room, as the rapid fire straight away took a super effect. One of the magicians then completed powering up its spell and went on to cast it at Lara's body. The spell was one which incinerates the victim's person, combined with it being contained in a considerable velvet orb. By chance, this wasn't one spell that followed the target, so Lara easily avoided the enchantment by the means of performing a somersault to miss it altogether. She got herself up quickly after the roll, and continued firing in line of the duo. In a matter of moments, they gave out their final screams, and disintegrated onto the floor.

Just as their ashes reached the grey tiled flooring, two heavy objects that had been in their possession had also dropped onto the floor as well. Lara came towards them, staring at their uniqueness and likeness to each other. The two objects that Lara was close examining were two minuscule statues. One was carved from a deeply red ruby material, whilst the second was diamond crystal. Lara picked both up, and could feel the weightiness of them. At the bottom of them were stamped shapes of the same material that differed between the pair. The ruby statue had a triangular shape underneath, while the diamond one had an octagonal shape instead. Lara had assumed that these statues, despite their gloriousness and richness, were in fact keys. To her delight, they indeed were keys. Their purpose was to unlock the blocked passage ahead from the main hall, as two in- built openings were at either side of the entryway. These openings would house the statues in. An inscription was written above each one. The one to the left stated in ancient Khmer royal dialect 'Place the tribute of the statue of evil' and the right stated in the same language 'Place the tribute of the statue of good'. Similarly there was some dialect on top of the blocked passageway, which stated the following, 'The best of both good and evil makes up this world'.

To confirm their placement, each of the openings had a cut out hole in a shape, duplicating the ones on their equivalent statue. Lara placed each statue into their correct position, the ruby statue on the right opening and the diamond statue on the left opening. Then she turned each statue to face the locked passage. All of a sudden the hall started to judder, in a style similar to an earthquake. This almost swept Lara off her feet, as she watched on the event that caused the hall to tremble so intensely. The stone columns that were blocking the way through had lowered into the ground. It was quite notable, that such mechanics had been installed at that time and still working to this day!

A spiral staircase was revealed, and without hesitating for one second, Lara made her way up the stairs. These long-lasting stairs led her to an outside open area. There was enough light to see up ahead, and the place was surrounded with a shadowed tropical horizon. This included landmarks such as the decorated ceilings of buildings that were lower down, trees, a variety of plants and two lakes at either side. But even at this height, Lara initially didn't take notice to how high she was now. Instead, her attention was into the centre, where an object left unsupervised had filled her with astonishment. At once, Lara knew what it was, 'The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy!'

There it was, the artefact that she had been searching for, placed on a base stand in the middle of the area. Lara advanced towards the artefact, and at last she had held it in her hands. Feeling the almighty mystical power of this hand-sized dark purple orb, she was however soon quickly interrupted. A jet black-grey wolf came up to Lara, and stopped in his tracks. It just stared at Lara with its red canine eyes, while a scarlet red robed apparition suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It immediately saw that Lara was holding The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy, and with a shriek the dark figure spoke. "Don't let her seize the Black Stone!"

Instantaneously afterwards the wolf ran off and the red robed figure disappeared, leaving three purpled robed henchmen to deal with Lara. Surprisingly though, these were much weaker compared to the ones Lara had faced already, and soon after she finished them off with her Uzi sub machine guns. Lara then tucked away the black stone into her backpack and proceeded into the next part of the temple up ahead, past to where she was.

Lara had next entered some sort of lit up puzzle room, where at both sides of the room, there were two different puzzles that needed solving. The one to the left side of the room had a large comparable 'Tower Of Hanoi' puzzle, which was nearly as tall as the roof. Over to the right was a tabletop with a stone carved picture. There were some pieces stacked up next to it. No doubt, Lara would have to place these pieces in their correct positions in the picture puzzle. She first wanted to try her hand at the giant version of 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzle. The main rules were that only one disk can be moved at a time, and that no disk may be placed on top of a smaller one. In the past, Lara had already solved some 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzles, so she had experience in solving them. This particular one was a four piece set, with three rods:

Lara predicted that it would take 15 moves to complete the puzzle. She began to follow the method by placing each disk to their appropriate positioning. This was until she took a step back at the halfway point of solving the puzzle.

Lara was sure that she was on the right track of solving the puzzle, so she continued using the method. Up till she had fully solved the 'Tower of Hanoi' puzzle!

She moved next onto the second puzzle, which was the picture puzzle. The objective was to input the pieces missing into their correct position in the picture, much like a jigsaw. The picture in question was a labyrinth, with some absent artefacts that were supposed to be hidden in this maze. A riddle-like statement was inscribed above on the wall, saying the following phrase, in Khmer: 'Five artefacts, one real, four of them are not. The real one should be securely hidden away in the maze, while the others should be placed to fool treasure hunters into believing they have the real prize.' In the order of events, Lara would first have to find out which one out of the five pieces is the real artefact. Then on the picture board, place the real one somewhere where no one would look, and place the fake ones to cover it up.

Lara examined each piece closely and attentively, keeping a close eye for any sort of hint or evidence which would lead her to the real artefact piece. They all were one of the same objects, but Lara noticed that one had a tiny difference compared to the others, after doing some careful observations. This difference was a small etched out pattern on the piece, which the others did not have. Thinking that she had found the real artefact piece in her hand, Lara then set about placing these pieces into the labyrinth, doing what she thought may have been worthwhile hiding spots.

Her theory being that the closer the real artefact was placed nearby the entrance, the least likely it would be suspected as being the actual one. The fakes that were scattered further away from the entrance would be the most suspected as being the real one, she thought. To Lara's surprise this was indeed the correct sequence!

Upon completion of both puzzles, Lara was rewarded with the door becoming unlocked and opening up. Vigilantly, Lara went pass the newly opened doorway, which led her to a huge split corridor. However just when Lara was about to chose which passage she would have taken, the red robed apparition reappeared stopping her in her place. It spoke with that recognisable hoarse voice.

"So here you are. Hand me the stone or suffer the consequences of my wraith."

"Hmmm... I don't think so." A confident Lara answered back. The dark character continued to stare scarcely straight at her with those merciless glowing red eyes.

"It's not over...Not yet...You will never get all the stones!" The apparition vowed and the black-grey wolf that Lara saw earlier emerged from the darkness. The robed figure ordered it to attack her and then disappeared once again. The wolf wasted no time and started to sprint at Lara with its four hound legs. Ready to pursue the new threat, Lara decided to switch weapons for more fire-power and opted to use her HK MP5 to engage the nefarious wolf. Holding the HK MP5 in both hands, Lara ran within the line of the hound and as it prepared to jump on her body, she dived underneath the canine. There, under the breath of its body, a bombardment of bullets from the automatic sunk deep into the wolf.

The impact from Lara's weapon was too much for unnatural wolf hound to handle. As it was completing its attempted jump at Lara, it remained frozen on the floor, eyes closed. Still clenching onto her HK tight, Lara took the left of the sectioned corridor. She ran though it, knowing that on the forefront, the red robed apparition was guarding The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame.

Lara had reached the end of the corridor, and sitting on an elegant stand was the red stone. Just before Lara had been able to touch it, the red robed apparition materialized behind her back, thinking it could create an attack without her knowing. Though what this enemy didn't know is that Lara had already sensed that the Teg-Du-Bhorez member was behind her. To its surprise, Lara had swivelled round, meeting it face-to-face and before it was able to react, Lara had fired her HK.

In a matter of a few long seconds, and a load of empty cartridges scattered all around in the area, the red robed apparition couldn't bear anymore, and combusted into thin air, leaving smoke and ash on the floor. Lara retired her HK MP5, and re-examined The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame. Alike when she had held The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy, Lara felt the surge of power in between her hands, all contained in this lust red orb. She placed the red stone into her backpack, 'Now that I have two stones, I must embark and find out where the third stone is, by consulting and deciphering the Tome of Ezekiel further'. A new exit was shown to Lara to the left side of the previously red stone stand, and this led to a slippery slope. The slope then brought her to outside, only this time she was within the grounds of Angkor Wat. With it still being very late at night, Lara hurried along back to her hideout and returned the items she had borrowed. Her plan was to spend the night at her hideout, and catch a flight back to England next morning to carry out more research in her library.


	4. Italy - Laconia Island

**- Italy (Laconia Island)**

As soon as Lara got back to her home, she didn't waste any time relaxing and got back into the library, spending quite a lot of hours there. Her objective was to decipher the next chapter of the strange Tome of Ezekiel. This too was aided by her recent discoveries, found in the Swedish Mountain of the Tomb of Ezekiel and in Angkor Wat. She now understood that the mysterious 13th centurion book describes a prophecy that was called the Prophecy of Magic.

Part of the Prophecy of Magic tells that the three magic stones helped the great conquerors, Heort the Viking, Surya Varman II of Cambodia and Marcus Aurelius Emperor of Rome. Thanks to this understanding, Lara now knew where the location of the final stone she seeks was. Lara decided to finish off deciphering the final chapter of the Tome of Ezekiel and the Prophecy of Magic, after she had collected The White Stone of Pure Spirit from Italy, on an island known as Laconia Island.

With this new knowledge, Lara informed Winston of where she was travelling next to. Winston asked Lara if she needed any help getting anything, and Lara replied saying to phone a transport provider on the island, so she could explore much quicker and efficiently. While Winston was doing this, Lara prepared her weaponry and equipment she may require. This was the following she would take with her:

- 2 Medical-Kits

- The Tome Of Ezekiel Book

- Field Notebook

- A Mobile Device for distress signals etc

- An M37 Shotgun

- Dual .50 Calibre Pistols (More powerful than her usual pistols)

- The two magic stones she has in her possession

For this venture, Lara wore her favourite jungle outfit, which comprised off a green tank top, brown khaki shorts, her backpack, boots and belt with holsters. Once she acquired the gear and equipment, Lara rushed to the helicopter transportation that will take her to Laconia Island in Italy.

It was late afternoon, and Lara was exuberantly searching the island for any clues that could lead her to the sanctuary of The White Stone of Pure Spirit. She was driving a rented motorcycle all around the island streets, and passing buildings flew by at a speed on long roads. The motorbike was a dark blue coloured, and was the Norton Street fighter model, which had a rotary engine, perfect for the eating up the miles she took. Instead of wondering around meaninglessly, Lara first thought of checking of the back streets. This is where hardly any people would be walking pass through, making the search easier and less complicated. Also people would be less suspicious of her activities, and not be interrupting her concentration.

Within the hour, Lara had no results as she continued looking into places that could hold any sort of information. Then in a rare glance, Lara spotted an ornament stuck on the wall of a building in an alleyway. She drove towards it and inspected her find. It was a huge metal mask monument of a wolf with a ring piercing between the nostrils. 'The wolf is the animal symbol of Ancient Rome, so I there is the first clue of getting close to the artefact' Lara thought, as she reminisced the fact that this building may be more important than people know it. Then it quickly snapped within Lara's mind, 'Of course, the last stone should be hidden somewhere in this converted Roman Villa' she believed, and made her way to the entrance.

Unexpectedly though she was soon to be stopped. Round the corner of the alleyway, Lara saw two more red hooded figures having a conversation. She had an idea, instead of spoiling their talk to one another with gunplay. Lara eavesdropped into their discussion behind the wall.

"Any news on the stones we lost in Cambodia?" the first red robed apparition questioned.

"No, she has them. We've even sent brothers to search her mansion!" the second red robed figure responded.

"I see... Well currently our leader holds the final stone, so it's in safe hands at the moment. The leader has also summoned us all to meet at the coast of this island, where we will discuss the next part of our plan." the first dark figure explained. After, they vanished, without a doubt they were on their way to the meeting point.

A flood load of unanswered questions rocketed in Lara's head. 'How did they know where I'd lived' and most importantly 'What was Winston's current status?'

'NO...Winston!' Lara couldn't bear the thought or sight of her trustworthy friend being interrogated, and what kind of methods the Teg-Du-Bhorez did for that sole purpose. But she couldn't leave now. She had to retrieve The White Stone of Pure Spirit from under their leaders' wing. She would immediately return home afterwards, to check out what damage they had done. Thanks to the listening in on their conversation, Lara now knew the whereabouts of the white stone, but now it wasn't going to be easy. She stepped back onto her motorcycle, and accelerated down the street, heading now for the coast where they all were going to meet up. This time, she was ready for some payback.

Meanwhile...

The White Stone of Pure Spirit was placed in the centre of a mosaic image of Medusa, the gorgon monster of Greek mythology. The remaining six members (Two red robed, four purple/black robed) were floating and in two separate lines. A white robed figure then appeared in the centre, and begun it's speech.

"The prophecy indicates that the time has come for us Teg-Du-Bhorez to reawaken our master. The Great Grey One will be awoken through the third reunion." The leader stated. The members of the cult all nodded together, but one red robed figure had its reservations.

"She is a persistent one. She will be here soon, sire." The red hooded dark figure said. But before the white hooded figure can react to that statement, one of the purple hooded henchmen appeared with news.

"Sire, the thief is here!" the henchman declared.

"Excellent. Dispose of her at once!" the leader ordered and they all disappeared, waiting for her to pick up the bait.

It took a few miles until Lara had reached the coastline, it had been thankfully deserted. She mounted the motorcycle, and scanned the area. Up front there was a stone platform, utilised for sightseeing, but no one was there. Lara walked up the stairs, and noticed in the centre of the mosaic pattern of Medusa, was what she had been seeking. 'The White Stone of Pure Spirit'! But why had it just been left there, unguarded and seemingly abandoned. She sensed that a trap was set out so she could take the bait. 'How original' Lara joked, and she drew her .50 calibre pistols, readying them for some action, that was soon about to come. She got closer to the white stone, feeling like she was being watched all the way, and picked it up from the floor.

Upon picking it up, she swiftly stashed it into her backpack, and straight away redrew her pistols. Four brothers of the Teg-Du-Bhorez had shadowed behind her, and before they were able to make a surprise ensnarement, Lara's dual pistols had already blown away one member to dust. Anger filled the three attackers, and the trio begun casting shields to protect themselves from her gunfire. To get rid of their magical shields, Lara switched her weapon to the shotgun. This would impact their shields greatly, as the wide-shot shells that she loaded up, would break it up effortlessly. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Their shields shattered into tiny little pieces, like a glass being smashed or dropped. The trio tried to conjure up one united spell. Using their advantage of outnumbering the thief, they would unite powers, and unleash this unforgivable spell on the victim. 3...2...1...ZZZAAPPP! The surge of magical power created had been of a huge scale, as the team had directed it right into where Lara was standing. Reacting fast to the new assault, Lara hopped off the ledge and hung onto to it tightly. Her scheme was to fool the trio, by making them think the huge blast of the spell had destroyed her. Moments later, Lara heard the spell ending, and the cheery hurrah made by the three brothers.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm still here!" Lara pointed out, smiling at them. Their shining red eyes widened in disbelief.

"Impossible!" The trio magicians shouted altogether. But before they could try again, Lara finished them off with her dual .50 calibre pistols, while they were still shock in awe. All that was left of the trio was black smoke rising up from their ashes, giving out their final fallen whines.

With the deaths of the henchmen, failing to eliminate the thief, the white robed figure decided to face Lara itself. But not to battle her, not yet, but to give her some information of why she has already lost. The apparition appeared in front Lara, and began to speak with her in that dark hollow tone, they all seem to have.

"You surprise me, human, but the Third Reunion cannot be prevented!" The white hooded figure expressed to Lara.

"There's no Reunion without my stones" a confident Lara told the leader.

"You fool! The stones are eternal, and you are only a mere mortal. Keep them as long as you live, but we will get them back one day!" Claimed the white robed leader, he soon vanished leaving Lara on her own.

'Well looks like my only option is to find their headquarters and put an end to this. The stones might be eternal, but the Teg-Du-Bhorez certainly isn't! Lara declared, and now with all the stones, she went back to her parked motorbike. She returned it, and booked the first flight back to England. This was not only check out the mess left behind in her home and to see if Winston was okay, but also to translate the final chapter of the Tome Of Ezekiel.


	5. Romania - Cult Fortress

**- Romania (Cult Fortress)**

"Winston! Winston!" Lara called out in her mansion, but there was no response. She had searched all over the mansion, but nobody was to be found. Her home had been left in a horrible state, furniture either ripped or tippled over, and every single door opened that has been fully ran-sacked thoroughly rummaged through. Lara ceased her search. She desperately wanted to end the Teg-Du-Bhorez clan, and their so-called 'Third Reunion'. She went into her library which too, was sabotaged near to ruin. Thankfully her research notes had been left here, so using those as a reference, Lara set on deciphering the final chapter of the Tome of Ezekiel.

There were two pieces of vital information that she needed to extract from the book. First, Lara wanted to complete the whole translation of the Prophecy of Magic, and secondly to discover the whereabouts of the headquarters of the Teg-Du-Bhorez.

An hour or two later, Lara had successfully deciphered the parts she really needed from the old book. The newly deciphered prophecy was read out. 'The First Union gave humans life. The Second Union gave humans salvation. The Third Union will give humans Conclusion!' This was what the white robed leader had mentioned.

Lara also uncovered some extra information on the Teg-Du-Bhorez and what their main goal was. For centuries the magic stones have been protected by the ancient secret society of the Teg-Du-Bhorez. According to the prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel, the Teg-Du-Bhorez would reawaken their master, The Great Grey One, and the apocalypse would begin.

The Tome then subsequently indicated the location of the magic society headquarters. A fortress is somewhere hidden within the centre of the Romanian forest. Without hesitation, Lara called for a flight to take her to a nearby town in Romania. Thereafter she will travel through the forest alone, searching for this existing fortress. She armed herself with the best weapons she had available, the following were included in her inventory:

- 2 Medical-Kits

- The Tome Of Ezekiel Book

- Field Notebook

- A Mobile Device for distress signals etc

- Rocket Launcher

- Desert Eagle

- The three magical stones she has in her possession

Now armed with the items she would need, Lara looked back into her home, and how unrecognisable it had become. She had hoped wherever Winston may be, that he was safe and doing fine. After she would defeat the Teg-Du-Bhorez brotherhood and had stopped the 'Third Reunion' from happening, she will resume her search for Winston. Lara proceeded onwards towards the helicopter which had now landed in her gardens, with its propellers just stopping from whirling round.

The rotorcraft machine dropped Lara off a village bordering the Romanian forest. She thanked the pilot, and told him that she shouldn't take too long before she will need picking up again. Lara began wandering around the town, looking for a motor shop or garage that could offer her the right transport for the job. A garage that had Lara's exact specifications of what she was looking for, had allowed visitors to rent quad bikes to explore the forest area. An all terrain vehicle (ATV) was exactly what she needed, to delve and search deep within the forest territory.

Lara entered the shop, and had asked the keeper that she would like to rent the quad bike to go out around the forest field. The keeper had inspected Lara very carefully, taking note of her accessories that she'd carried with her. He nodded in agreement, along with his strong Romanian accent. He set his price per hour, and warned Lara of a specific zone within the forest that is off-limits. Interestingly this was some information that Lara actually required finding the location of the clan headquarters.

"Where is this off-bounds area?" Lara inquired the garage keeper.

"It is here on this map." The keeper got out the forest map, and pointed to a circumference marked round a section of the woodland.

"This is the part you've got to avoid, you'll know if you get nearby, as it starts to get a bit misty. Please, I heard rumours that when people enter this bit, they don't come back out." The keeper explained. He then went on to show Lara the quad bike that she was going to take into the forest. The quad bike was a green camouflaged coloured, 4x4 pumped up wheeled on and off roadster, powered by a 600cc engine. Lara hoisted herself onto the seat, and turned on the ignition. The motor gave a startling roar into life, and Lara began revving the engine, getting the feel and familiarisation of the ATV. She smiled, being very happy with the vehicle she was renting.

The keeper, once satisfied with Lara completing her checks, allowed her to enter the forest alone. The pathway that Lara sped through, had led her furthermore into the depths of the forest. Crowded overgrown trees had made the forest quite dark to see, so Lara's vision of the passage she was meant to take had soon gone. The quad bike had a light attachment, so she switched the luminous bright torch on. Though, she didn't use it for the purpose of following the cut out passageway. Alternatively Lara had jogged out a different route in her mind, remembering that map the keeper had shown her, this plan would lead her to the misty area.

As Lara continued her journey through the forest, it became very rough and bumpy ride. The quad bike managed to overcome these problems, with its brilliant suspension system, and before she knew it, she had to hit the brakes harshly!

A deep, black chasm had nearly made her drove to her end. Lara examined the chasm, and figured out a way she would get over to the other side. There were broken bridges along the ledge of the pit, and she knew that it was the only way of getting over. Lara drove back the quad bike a good distance, so that she could gather enough speed to make the daring jump.

Lucky for Lara, the quad bike had also been featured with a nitrous turbo boost, where at the push of a button, the ATV should gain more acceleration. She took a deep breath, then immediately went on the accelerator. In no time, the quad bike reached a good rate of velocity, and straight away once it got onto the broken part of the bridge, Lara pressed the control.

"WHOOSH!" Like a supercharger would, the quad bike gained a short burst of boosted pace and shortly after it made the jump. With the wheels still spinning at a high RPM, and Lara holding onto the handle bar of the ATV firmly, the vehicle had positivity made it to the other side of the chasm.

"THUD!" The sound of a successful hard landing quad bike gave out. Lara carried on travelling through the forest, knowing she was getting ever closer to the headquarters. The green scenery surroundings were starting to thin out, and had become even less in volume. Lara had also seen the first specks of smoke floating about above the plantation. Motoring on through the field, very soon after delving through the mist, the vegetation became dead. The trees full of life earlier had now become black thorns of their previous state. Rotting away plants had made up the forest floor, along with lifeless dark brown leaves. It was a glum and pessimistic setting.

The gaseous mist got thicker, and with that it was harder to see further up front. Lara did her best navigating through the blind worthy environment, finding it even more bewildering of where she was heading, she even had doubts if she even was on the correct track! But these doubtful thoughts not before long came to a halt, as the clouded mist cleared up a bit, revealing a built up rocky bridge. Lara dismounted the quad bike and parked it to the side, well away from the bridge and hidden.

White mist covered underneath the bridge, disguising what had really been under the bridge. Lara walked across, taking careful steps along its rough and gravelly terrain, not wanting to fall to her death so shortly. The bridge was indeed long, it had creepy looking gargoyle statues placed either side, as well as the dead wood trees swarming overhead. Crow birds were barking above, flying in the sky, circulating around the eclipsed district.

The pebbled bridge smoothed out, and Lara was able to gain more ground quicker than before. Suddenly three black furred wolves came running at her person, all there frightening teeth clenched, wanting a piece of the adversary's flesh. Lara foresaw the wolves, by hearing their rapid breathing, and without giving it a second thought, she drew her Desert Eagle. This gun had packed quite a punch, and Lara got down to a kneel position to get a better aim accuracy. Target locked on, she pulled on the trigger and a series of loaded cartridges came shooting out of the weapon, channelling right at each wolf. Due to the high calibration of the firearm, the belligerent wolves had instantly been forced to stop in their tracks by the sheer triggered bullets that had torn through their bodies.

Lara advanced passed them, and took a right turn on the bridge. Some parts had been gapped off, so Lara did a sequence of run and jumps to get by. The bridge then took one final turn to the right and it had brought her to the entranceway of the vast Teg-Du-Bhorez fortress. The gates had been opened up, but just before Lara was allowed to cross through, she was disrupted by a new opponent, one she hasn't fought against yet. This creature that popped out of nowhere was some kind of ghastly dark ghoul. It had ghost-like attributes, with one red eye looking at the intruder and two shadow claws for hands.

Pronto, the clawed ghoul tried to take a swipe at Lara, but missed her by an inch! Lara brought up the Desert Eagle on this new enemy, and fired. Three shots had pierced right through its cape torso. The ghost creature gave off a howl in agony. It then tried again, and did a whole whirl sweep with its spiky dark claws. Lara had nearly got caught up in this attack, and precisely she rolled out of the swung range.

Pivoting round, Lara finished off the unearthly creature, as two more shots had ended up darting through the ghostly body. The ghoul gave off one final cry out and vanished. Not having time to examine this new type of eerie creature, Lara rushed inside the fortress.

Armed and trained with her Desert Eagle in hand, Lara observed her new interior surroundings. The whole atmosphere of the place was like a dungeon, dark walls with hung up shields, banners and swords, and that was it. There was no charisma or richness about the building, but keeping her guard up, Lara carried onwards through the dungeon-like extensive walkway.

Two robed Teg-Du-Bhorez magicians appeared at either side of Lara. But they did not foresee her already ready, and to their hindrance they were in next to no time dealt with a bullet each from her gas-operated gun. Pressing on, up ahead, Lara saw the leader levitating, blocking the entry to what Lara guessed was to where their master, the Great Grey One was resting. She could tell by the splendour of the arched doorway, how it was decorated beautifully, and on each side two guardian-like granite statues. The leader of the Teg-Du-Bhorez just continued to stare at the gatecrasher.

"It's either me or you now. Whoever wins gets the stones. Is that clear?" Lara challenged the leader.

"Indeed." The white robed apparition agreed, accepting the given challenge.

On that note, the leader backed off, preparing its attack for Lara. It centred its hands to the centre, powering up some sort of terrifying spell ball, momentarily to be unleashed at her. Instantaneously, Lara at point blank shot the leader, not at all hesitating with the trigger of her weapon. However, unlike the previous brothers of the Teg-Du-Bhorez, this apparition had more endurance against Lara's fire-power.

Finally the leader relinquished its anticipated spell caster attack, heading towards Lara's direction. For that split second, Lara assessed the hex, it was a thunderous element ball, and she definitely didn't want to get shocked by the conjured lightning. Sidestepping the attempted strike, she sustained a shooting pattern, and resumed firing at the white robed apparition. It began to give out some cries, from the critical hits that came about halfway through the fight.

Having received too much damage from the Desert Eagle, the leader needed a distraction to recover for a bit. It decided to summon, with all its available magical power, two shadow ghoul guardians. Whilst the intruder had her hands full dealing with the two called creatures, the white robed apparition would recover as much as it can. Unfortunately, these plans didn't fully go into fruition, as the female foe had made quick work of the foul darkness ghouls. She moved on too fast for the leader to react, and it was met with her Desert Eagle pointed straight at his form. But before she could make the final shot, Lara could hear the leader sneering at her.

"You think you've won? The only way to win is to destroy the Great Grey One!" The leader shrieked out, doing its best to retreat away from Lara.

"All in a day's work" Lara replied and had set the leader free from this world with one final eagle shot. Ash smoke rose from the remains of its robes left on the floor. Reloading bullets into her Desert Eagle and staring at the doorway, Lara knew what her new objective was. She took a long deep breath and entered down the stairs, knowing that the Great Grey One was up there, but in what state?

A vast complex chamber unfolded ahead of Lara, as this was the safe haven for the Great Grey One. From what she could see, the horrendous being was curled up in a protected ball shell, supposedly sleeping. The shell was floating above a circular globe patterned spiked pillar, and it was still unaware of Lara's presence. For one last time, Lara scanned her unknown environment. The room was split up into three open passageways. In the gaps between them, there was nothing but a mixture of cloudiness and darkness. There were three coloured sphere stands, each one installed upon each of the three passages. To the left was a dark purple stand of where The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy should be placed. In the middle, there was a red stand to which The Red Stone of Phoenix Flame would be placed. Finally on the right side was the white stand, where The White Stone of Pure Spirit ought to be situated.

Lara walked up to the shell as close as she can, to see if there was a weak point. She did also notice the uncomfortable view of the four fierce masks mounted above near the ceiling, behind the Great Grey One. Sadly, Lara could see no vulnerable point of where she could aim her weaponry at. She decided to fire a missile straight at the shell, just to see if it was possible to defeat the Great Grey One, without having to set the stones in their rightful places.

Lara steadied the rocket launcher onto her shoulder, taking aim and "SWOOSH!" The projectile blasted out from the launcher and directly went for the ball shell. BOOM! But as Lara witnessed after the impact of the blast, the Great Grey One was still hovering above the pillar, motionless! It was even still in its current form of being curled up into a protective shell ball.

'Blast, looks like I will have to do this the more difficult way!' Lara thought, as she had no other choice. She had to fight the Great Grey One at its maximum power with the stones. That was the only way to not only wake it up, but also to overthrow the monster as well. Lara then got her gear ready for what could be a demanding battle, and set about placing each stone in their correct stand.

'There, now here comes the pain.' Lara had placed the final stone into its hold, and as expected, this triggered the Great Grey One to awake. It uncurled from its position, and gave off a loud screech, that nearly caused Lara to cover her ears. The Great Grey One was all a mysterious mystical grey skinned six armed lady, with a gold crown and flowing white hair. The lady had spotted Lara, and at once it started to shoot thunder bolts straight at her.

Lightning jolts flew right pass Lara, as she dashed away from these shocking attacks. Deciding that manoeuvrability being better than stationary in this case, Lara withdrew her rocket launcher and got out her Desert Eagle, and had begun firing at the Great Grey One. The bullets had some effect, but it didn't stop the lady from casting curses and enchantments at her way. The Great Grey One then pulled her whole body in. 'Uh Oh' Lara cursed to herself, not looking forward to what the lady had in store for her. Lara still sustained her shooting, but after a mere matter of seconds, the fiend outstretched out her body, and had released a radical shock wave!

This wave had similar properties to a sonic boom, and since it was travelling faster than the speed of sound, Lara did her best to dodge what she can. She had taken some damage, but none too fatal. Lara was still willing to carry on fighting. Fireballs came spitting out from the lady, aimed specifically at Lara. Not wanting to burn alive, Lara used her acrobatic abilities to dodge and evade the hex.

Even though the Great Grey One was relentlessly attacking Lara with its growing power and cursed indefensible spells, every time Lara got back up and continued to battle on. Nothing could break her fighting spirit, and this soon led her to an advantage. Playing a similar strategy to the leader of the Teg-Du-Bhorez, the Great Grey One felt itself taking too much injury from Lara's Desert Eagle. The lady recoiled back into her protective shell ball state, and summoned three ghoul shadow ghosts to finish the foe off while she recuperates.

'Can't fight her own battles' Lara remarked, she avoided any clawed attempts by the trio of dark ghouls, and continuously taking shots at each of them. Raging on, Lara had managed to beat each one of the ghastly ghost-like ghouls, and turned back to the Great Grey One. The lady hadn't enough time to restore her strength fully, but she still waged on with the fight against the opponent. She cast a mixture of fireballs and razor-sharp enchanted boomerangs right at the human. But yet again, with a lot of effort, Lara found loopholes in the assault, and used them to dodge the attack.

The Great Grey One then staged itself for one final immense shock wave. The only spell that was very effective against its antagonist, so the lady got back into position, reconstructing the sonic blast, only this time to deliver it as the final blow to end the engagement. Knowing if the Great Grey One was able to conjure up with this hex, and again release it, Lara knew her life would end, along with the rest of humanity! It was those precious few seconds that Lara had to make count, and she withdrew her Desert Eagle to bring out her rocket launcher.

Balancing the large projectile weapon on her shoulder, Lara had her sights set on the main physique of the Great Grey One. Locked and loaded, Lara pulled on the trigger and the rocket which surely would cause the demise of the grey skinned lady, came boosting out and went for the target. A huge explosion had formed of where the Great Grey One was spirally standing, and to Lara's delight, the hit had been just what she needed. The lady gave off a huge hallow scream that echoed harshly throughout the chamber, as she began to shake uncontrollably.

Sparks of lightning bolts erupted around the pillar where the Great Grey One had been, and only a few moments passed until she self-destructed with a giant blast. Lara withdrew the rocket launcher, and suddenly felt the chamber starting to wobble viciously. She had to get out of there fast! Seeing that the fortress had now begun to collapse upon itself! Pieces from the ceiling fell onto the floor, and Lara rushed out of the chamber. The dungeon-like corridor also was crumbling away too! Lara hurried her legs and sprinted as fast as she could out of the compound. The exit was near, and just before it was about to seal off, Lara made a leap for it.

"Phew! That was a close one." Lara exhaled, as she had made it out of the now deceased fortress in one piece. She looked back at the fortress, which was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. Lara dusted herself off, and retraced her way back to the quad bike, with the feeling of satisfaction and happiness that she had saved not only her own life, but also humanity and the world from extinction. Leaving the dim forest behind, and returning the quad bike to the garage, Lara set on finding Winston, who disappeared from her mansion and she hadn't seen him since. Lara got onto the helicopter that was waiting for her arrival, and set the pilot onto the course of returning home.

_Three Days Later..._

"I'm so glad that you're okay Winston." A cheerful Lara told her close friend and faithful butler. They both sat outside, taking in the view and sipping their cups of honey tea that Winston had made earlier.

"So am I, those strange hooded figures locked me up in the freezer, asking me if I had known anything on the whereabouts of the stones. Of course I told them nothing, as I didn't know what they were on about, so they left me in there." Winston explained to Lara, still a bit shook up about their sudden break-in into the house.

"How did you manage to get out?" asked Lara, taking a glance at Winston, waiting for an answer. He took a swig of his cup of tea, and took a breath.

"I barged the door with all the remaining strength I had left. By that time, those robed things whatever they were had left the mansion. They went leaving the house a horrific state, as you'll probably saw when you came back. After I got out of the freezer, I was suffering a lot, so I called on an ambulance to take me to hospital, which they did and I was medically treated for hypothermia." Winston replied, as he saw a sad expression drew upon Lara's face.

"I'm sorry Winston." Lara spoke out, looking into her friends' ageing eyes.

"Don't worry about it Lara, it wasn't your fault at all, you didn't know that these treacherous creatures would break in" A resounding Winston told Lara, and she nodded in agreement.

"Thank you Winston. Now what shall we do today?" Lara wondered, seeing that there was a full unplanned day ahead of them.

**-Epilogue**

The final prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel ended telling of how a mysterious lady would save humanity from a premature, unwanted conclusion.

**The End**

**Please Enjoy and Comment, thanks :D**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Any Characters In This Story. They Belong To Their Respectable Owners**

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy (Based On 'Tomb Raider: The Prophecy' Game Boy Advance Game)

Copyright (C) 2012 Josh14Raider

Tomb Raider and Lara Croft

Copyright (C) Square Enix, Eidos Interactive, Core Design, Ubi Soft, and Crystal Dynamics

© Square Enix Ltd. Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are trademarks of Square Enix Ltd. All rights reserved.


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